Saving for house deposit

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Any tips for saving for a house deposit? My boyfriend and I are both 24 earning 22-55 K and we live in Oxford...……...
Have a Help to Buy ISA set up which minimum £50 a month goes into. My boyfriend has the same.
I have found some people advise us to enjoy our lives now e.g. have lots of holidays/travel but some people say no holidays/meals out/nights away/gym memberships so we can just save save save. We're really struggling to find a balance!! Any advice?
 
Where are you living right now? Is that taking up most of your outgoings? £50 per month is not a lot to save. 22-55K is a big jump - can you save more on the months you earn more?
 
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My boyfriend and I have literally started saving too!

We’re currently renting in Hampshire and have just opened Lifetime ISA’s each as there are fewer restrictions than the HTB ISA (their £250k limit is not do able where we live).You can transfer your Help To Buy to a LISA so worth checking them out!

If you deposit £4K a year you get £1k free from the government to top it up.

We earn between £40k-55k each and are currently putting £300 away each a month so £600 in total, we are only looking at 5% deposit mortgages though as we are desperate to stop renting and just get on the ladder!

in response to your post, we are pretty much accepting that all big holidays and expensive gifts etc go on hold. Its only temporarily and then the world is your oyster AND you’ll be homeowners!
 
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Oh no, 25K! Definitely not 55K (I wish!). We're living at his parents so paying very minimal rent of £250 each. Both cars on finance unfortunately. My finance finishes next year so that will help massively. Other outgoings are car insurance, phone contracts, gym memberships, contact lenses, food shopping etc, credit cards (60 a month - that will finish this year thankfully). I will be a lot better off when my car finance and credit card ends but just interested to know if people ended gym memberships or stopped going out to dinner etc. to save.
 
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Its only temporarily and then the world is your oyster AND you’ll be homeowners!
You'll be debt holders and have a huge mortgage to service for several decades.

All these schemes are just props to keep the housing bubble inflated. Only help bankers and housebuilders.

I find it pretty depressing people are told to live their young years like they're impoverished just to buy an overpriced house. Go without everything for a few years, then you can take on a huge debt🙄

House prices are so out of sync with wages it won't last forever. Then you have automation coming in at a rapid pace, the future is very shaky. Enjoy your life, there's a whole world out there and in a blink it'll be over.
 
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if people ended gym memberships or stopped going out to dinner etc.
No bleeping way. £50 gym is a bargain for using it several times a week and going out for dinner a couple of times a month is nice.
 
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Oh no, 25K! Definitely not 55K (I wish!). We're living at his parents so paying very minimal rent of £250 each. Both cars on finance unfortunately. My finance finishes next year so that will help massively. Other outgoings are car insurance, phone contracts, gym memberships, contact lenses, food shopping etc, credit cards (60 a month - that will finish this year thankfully). I will be a lot better off when my car finance and credit card ends but just interested to know if people ended gym memberships or stopped going out to dinner etc. to save.
I basically started to cut all the things that I really didn’t *need* like gym memberships, eating out loads or buying food at work, cut down on our food shopping bill and being smarter about our meals etc.

I started a budget tracker a month ago and I track everything that goes in and out of my bank account, I allocate money for food shop, petrol, hairdressers etc and I’ve looked into my car insurance etc to see where I can get cheaper.

I know it’s only for a couple of years so I can live with it! Its hard to do but so worth it at the end!

No bleeping way. £50 gym is a bargain for using it several times a week and going out for dinner a couple of times a month is nice.
yeah but owning a house faster is surely nicer? Haha and cutting back is not forever! if you’re talking £50 a month and then maybe another £100 for meals out a month that’s £150 in the pot each month = £1800 a year on top of what you’re already
saving!
 
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Doesn't save LOADS but have you tried the app that rounds your purchases up? So, for example if you spend 55p on some crisps it will put 45p into savings? Sorry I can't remember the name.

I know it's not a lot but you'll be saving without even realising it :)
 
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You'll be debt holders and have a huge mortgage to service for several decades.

All these schemes are just props to keep the housing bubble inflated. Only help bankers and housebuilders.

I find it pretty depressing people are told to live their young years like they're impoverished just to buy an overpriced house. Go without everything for a few years, then you can take on a huge debt🙄

House prices are so out of sync with wages it won't last forever. Then you have automation coming in at a rapid pace, the future is very shaky. Enjoy your life, there's a whole world out there and in a blink it'll be over.
So I pay someone else’s mortgage off now at £1400 a month, I can’t decorate the house, we can’t add to the house, we have to ask if we want a pet, we have to ask someone else to come fix the tap if it leaks.

or I save my hard earned money and put it into something that belongs to ME and that I will own that I can do whatever I please with. I will enjoy my life so much more when we can go on nice holiday, get married and have children because we have our own home. Right now I feel like I’m living in limbo because the house we live in is someone else’s!
 
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Doesn't save LOADS but have you tried the app that rounds your purchases up? So, for example if you spend 55p on some crisps it will put 45p into savings? Sorry I can't remember the name.

I know it's not a lot but you'll be saving without even realising it :)
My boyfriend has this and its so good! Barclays don't do this but they have a "blue rewards scheme". I put £4 a month and they put £3. Doesn't seem a lot but adds up!
 
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I feel like I would go mad without my gym membership! Plus, if I quit the gym I will have more time to do other things for example go out and spend money!!
I think eating out is definitely something we need to work on.[/QUOTE]
 
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I feel like I would go mad without my gym membership! Plus, if I quit the gym I will have more time to do other things for example go out and spend money!!
I think eating out is definitely something we need to work on.
[/QUOTE]

i think what you need to do is sit down and look at your own finances and figure out what you want to cut out and what you don’t? :)

What some of us might do on here is different to others etc so best thing to do is be honest about where you can cut back and where you want to.

its all very good some of us saying we forgo holidays and gym memberships etc but if you don’t want to do that then it simply won’t work for you and saving will feel harder than it needs to be. It’s got to be about balance :)
 
So I pay someone else’s mortgage off now at £1400 a month, I can’t decorate the house, we can’t add to the house, we have to ask if we want a pet, we have to ask someone else to come fix the tap if it leaks.

or I save my hard earned money and put it into something that belongs to ME and that I will own that I can do whatever I please with. I will enjoy my life so much more when we can go on nice holiday, get married and have children because we have our own home. Right now I feel like I’m living in limbo because the house we live in is someone else’s!
I wasn't saying rental is perfect.

But putting just a 5% deposit down certainly isn't. You won't own anything. If interest rates rise that deposit could be lost as house prices fall and the moment you can't service the debt it will be taken away. You own nothing really until it's paid off. How many jobs are going to be secure for the next 30 years? Just because interest rates are low now, I wouldn't assume once you get a mortgage that you'd have oodles of money left over for holidays and that.

The whole system is messed up because people are allowed to borrow money to buy more houses and inflate the price. Most of those people were just right place at right time and can remortgage something existing. It's a Ponzi scheme.

Sure save some money for the future, but it's grim going without everything just to buy something massively overpriced. I still think a correction is due.
 
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I wasn't saying rental is perfect.

But putting just a 5% deposit down certainly isn't. You won't own anything. If interest rates rise that deposit could be lost as house prices fall and the moment you can't service the debt it will be taken away. You own nothing really until it's paid off. How many jobs are going to be secure for the next 30 years? Just because interest rates are low now, I wouldn't assume once you get a mortgage that you'd have oodles of money left over for holidays and that.

The whole system is messed up because people are allowed to borrow money to buy more houses and inflate the price. Most of those people were just right place at right time and can remortgage something existing. It's a Ponzi scheme.

Sure save some money for the future, but it's grim going without everything just to buy something massively overpriced. I still think a correction is due.
You sound very bitter and seeing as you know nothing about me and the career I have I don’t think it’s your business to say what’s perfect or not but I’m sorry you have the view you have.

It’s a choice millions of people seem to make happily every day and I’ve not encountered many people that have said they regret buying property but thank you for your input! :)
 
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You sound very bitter and seeing as you know nothing about me and the career I have I don’t think it’s your business to say what’s perfect or not but I’m sorry you have the view you have.

It’s a choice millions of people seem to make happily every day and I’ve not encountered many people that have said they regret buying property but thank you for your input! :)
Oh no it's nothing to do with you, just being pragmatic about how risky it is to take long term debt for several decades, with a tiny deposit when the future of the job market and interest rates is very shakey.

Not bitter and I own a property, but the UK market is tit. It's only really benefiting a small number of people at the top of the pyramid.

The government are very happy to enslave people with huge debt so they have to keep on working and paying their tax like good little worker bees.

Help to buy and all these govenment schemes are not your friend, they're to benefit the rich people and keep the housing bubble inflated.

Sadly people have very short term memories and only really see the last couple of years as continuing forever. It's almost ingrained in the public psyche that buying a house is the goal in life and once you buy it then it will forever increase in value and make you wealthy. It's more like a ponzi scheme.
 
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You sound very bitter and seeing as you know nothing about me and the career I have I don’t think it’s your business to say what’s perfect or not but I’m sorry you have the view you have.

It’s a choice millions of people seem to make happily every day and I’ve not encountered many people that have said they regret buying property but thank you for your input! :)
Fair play to you for wanting to be on the property ladder as to be honest renting is dead money - we rent and would love to buy and im sure we will when the time is right.
Have you thought about the part buy scheme, from where im from in South West you pay for say 70% of the property value and every year you pay for a bigger percentage then in time you will own 100% of property. There are government backed schemes too for affordable housing.
Good luck
 
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When we were saving for our house deposit we stayed in all the time. It drove us crazy but it was worth it in the end. We would go to the library and borrow dvd box sets and stay in watching that or have friends over for a games night, buy a sack of potatoes and you can make potato wedges then get a dip to go with, it doesn’t have to be an expensive do.
Everyone is different but I personally like the security of knowing our home will be ours once the mortgage is paid off, renting wasn’t for us. Also, a 5% deposit is perfect just to get that first step on the property ladder and as your circumstances change you can increase your monthly payments and reduce the term to pay it off sooner. That’s what we are doing and after 6 years our 25 year mortgage has only 11 years left on it. Good luck, it will all be worth it.
 
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I wasn't saying rental is perfect.

But putting just a 5% deposit down certainly isn't. You won't own anything. If interest rates rise that deposit could be lost as house prices fall and the moment you can't service the debt it will be taken away. You own nothing really until it's paid off. How many jobs are going to be secure for the next 30 years? Just because interest rates are low now, I wouldn't assume once you get a mortgage that you'd have oodles of money left over for holidays and that.

The whole system is messed up because people are allowed to borrow money to buy more houses and inflate the price. Most of those people were just right place at right time and can remortgage something existing. It's a Ponzi scheme.

Sure save some money for the future, but it's grim going without everything just to buy something massively overpriced. I still think a correction is due.
this is nonsense really. We saved so hard for our first house and put down a good deposit. We went without with regards to so many things. I was 35. We have been here for 5 years and are now moving to another house that’s more expensive and bigger as we now have 3 children. We’re going to be living in front of a beautiful park in a lovely area. We could only dream of this before, but because we prioritised and saved,our fitter for our family is looking great. I was also able to leave work after buying our house when I because a mum as our mortgage was lower than our rent. We’ve been making £100 over payments towards our mortgage each month. Buying is generally always better than renting in so many ways.

I wasn't saying rental is perfect.

But putting just a 5% deposit down certainly isn't. You won't own anything. If interest rates rise that deposit could be lost as house prices fall and the moment you can't service the debt it will be taken away. You own nothing really until it's paid off. How many jobs are going to be secure for the next 30 years? Just because interest rates are low now, I wouldn't assume once you get a mortgage that you'd have oodles of money left over for holidays and that.

The whole system is messed up because people are allowed to borrow money to buy more houses and inflate the price. Most of those people were just right place at right time and can remortgage something existing. It's a Ponzi scheme.

Sure save some money for the future, but it's grim going without everything just to buy something massively overpriced. I still think a correction is due.
sounds like someone’s a little bitter towards property owners and is probably renting. You don’t need to convince those of us who would prefer to own our own homes rather than throw money at landlords to pay their own mortgages and live in big houses!
 
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this is nonsense really. We saved so hard for our first house and put down a good deposit. We went without with regards to so many things. I was 35. We have been here for 5 years and are now moving to another house that’s more expensive and bigger as we now have 3 children. We’re going to be living in front of a beautiful park in a lovely area. We could only dream of this before, but because we prioritised and saved,our fitter for our family is looking great. I was also able to leave work after buying our house when I because a mum as our mortgage was lower than our rent. We’ve been making £100 over payments towards our mortgage each month. Buying is generally always better than renting in so many ways.
I think thats different though, as you were 35, which is a good age to buy a house.

I think @Yel is talking more about the pressure on people to buy houses from the get go. I know a lot of people who got on the property ladder as soon as possible (Like, 21/22), and then complain about how they have no money and how other people their age must have rich parents, because they can afford nice holidays and to go to festivals, when in reality its just that their peers haven't put all of their money into savings every month for a mortgage deposit. I also know a lot of young people who got mortgages with people they were only dating for a year or so (which is crazy to me), and then broke up.

I personally don't think there is a 'right' or 'wrong' way, but I think if someone does want to travel a bit or has things on their bucket list they want to tick off before buying a house/having kids/getting married, then its best to prioritise those things before being tied down by a mortgage. If someone doesn't, and they just want a house, then fair enough and that should be their priority.
 
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You'll be debt holders and have a huge mortgage to service for several decades.

All these schemes are just props to keep the housing bubble inflated. Only help bankers and housebuilders.

I find it pretty depressing people are told to live their young years like they're impoverished just to buy an overpriced house. Go without everything for a few years, then you can take on a huge debt🙄

House prices are so out of sync with wages it won't last forever. Then you have automation coming in at a rapid pace, the future is very shaky. Enjoy your life, there's a whole world out there and in a blink it'll be over.
What would you suggest instead? Renting?
 
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